Michigan Wolverines

Michigan Wolverines
The first game of the reconstruction project was about as well as anyone could have imagined for the Michigan Wolverines. Freshmen sensation Tate Forcier was sheltered in his first performance going 16 for 19 and 203 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The ground game was rolling and Brandon Minor was the main reason why, seizing player of the game honors. Minor scored 4 touchdowns on 16 carries and rushed for 132 yards. Minor was one of six backs earning carries in the 45-10 win over the Broncos.

Next week will be Michigan's first big test of the young season as Notre Dame arrives in Ann Arbor.

It wasn't the usual 38-0 shut many are used to seeing every two years in Ann Arbor, but it was close enough. The Michigan Wolverines led by a stingy defense blanked the high powered Notre Dame offense saturday in Ann Arbor 37-0.

Junior quarterback Jimmy "4 Heismans, 4 National titles" Clausen was sidelined and redshirt freshmen Dayne Crist was injured for two quarters, leaving legacy Nate Montana in a hostile situation. Montana finished the game completing 9 of 14 passes for 117 yards. Crist was even more inept going 3 for 10 and a whopping 24 yds.

The running game was just as bad, Armando Allen was the Irish leading rusher finishing the game with 34 yards on 14 carries.

The Wolverines were dominant on defense holding the Irish to 179 total yards and 3 of 12 on third downs (25%).

Offensively the Wolverines were status quo. Forcier was rushed all day, but finished 11 of 19 for 110 yards 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

Brandon Minor left the game in the first quarter with a broken toe and was held out for precautionary purposes. Senior Carlos Brown filled in nicely rushing for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Michigan's player of the game was kicker Scott Schrimscher, who was 3 for 3 on field goal attempts as well as 4 for 4 on extra points.

Next week Michigan will host in-state directional school Eastern Michigan coached by former Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English (06-07), before getting into Big 10 play the following week against Indiana.

The Wolverines improve to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in Big Ten play as they shutout the Hoosiers 41-0. The Wolverines were led by senior tailback Brandon Minor's 157 yds and 3 touchdowns on 18 carries.

Defensively, Michigan forced two turnovers and had a collective effort to blank the Hoosiers.

On a bitter day in a bitter rivalry the Wolverines had their hands full in the first half against MSU. With only seconds left in the first half Michigan scored on a hope and a prayer as Forcier heaved the ball to the endzone only for it to be deflected by a Spartan defender and into the hands of Darryl Stonum. Michigan lead 17-7 at the half.

On the first play of Michigan's second drive, Forcier hit Odoms cutting across the middle for a 61 yard score.

State did score on a 51 yard pass from Nichol to Cunningham, but Michigan marched right down the field to score and put the game out of reach 34-14.

Michigan's defensive front was relentless in the second half tallying 5 sacks. Each defensive lineman recorded at least one sack and senior stud Brandon Graham recorded three.

Forcier was once again stellar throwing 15 completions on 19 attempts for 3 scores and 1 interception.

Brandon Minor lead all rushers with 116 yards on 17 carries and a score.

Martavious Odoms was the leading reciever with 4 grabs 106 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Next week Michigan travels to Iowa to face the Hawkeyes in a primetime game on ABC.

In Michigan's first true road test of the season the Hawkeyes would get off to a hot start. Jewel Hampton got the party started with an 85 yard touchdown run early in the first quarter. The Wolverines followed that with a 3-and-out. The Hawkeyes went on the attack again when Ricky Stanzi connected with Darrell Johnson Kouli for a 38 yard touchdown pass. After that it was all Wolverines.

Player of the game Tate Forcier is a freshmen only by title. He played as composed as a fifth year senior when down 14, even after fumbling in the redzone with an opportunity to cut the lead in half.

Forcier finished the game 14 of 19 214 yards and 2 touchdowns.

It was a collective effort running the football with several injuries throughout the game. Brandon Minor for some unknown reason was once again absent for the entire 4th quarter following a monster 23 yard touchdown run. All-in-all 5 Michigan backs saw carries tonight totaling 50 rushes for 218 yards and 3 scores.

Four recievers had 3 catches a piece and the defense was dominant after spotting the Hawkeyes 14 points. Hampton finished the day with 114 yards on 16 carries (but only 19 yards on 15 carries excluding the TD). Stanzi and Co. were held to a mere 120 passing yards and did have 3 interceptions.

Michigan travels to Knoxville next week to face off against the Tennessee Volunteers.

Michigan once again shot themselves in the foot with 5 turnovers as Penn State remains undefeated. Offensively Michigan was one dimensional in the first half. Already down two touchdowns the pressure was on Forcier to perform. Unfortunately he had the worst game of his young career. Tate finished the day 22 of 40 for 255 yards 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. Backup Denard Robinson didn't play well either in spot duty going 4 of 5 for 51 yards and 1 interception. Penn State's Darryl Clark was held in check going 8 of 13 for 155 yards and 1 touchdown.

Heisman candidate Evan Royster carried the load for the Nittany Lions finishing the day with 103 yards on 23 carries and a score. Stephfon Green and Shaine Thompson combined for 119 yards on 14 carries and 2 touchdowns. Michigan's senior leader Brandon Minor played well when he had the opportunity to carry the ball rushing for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries.

Defensive leaders for Penn State Knowledge Timmons 14 tackles and 1 sack. For Michigan fresmen Vladamir Emilien made his first career start and did not dissapoint. Vlad finished with 14 tackles of his own including 1 tackle for loss.

Michigan tries to stop their 2 game slide when they travel to Champaigne to face the disappointing Fightin' Illini.

Michigan played like a team that had something to prove. After suffering two consecutive losses, it was a must-win game at Illinois and the Wolverines did not dissapoint. Michigan dominated all three phases of the game today returning 2 kickoffs for touchdowns, returning an interception for a touchdown and rushing for 2 scores.

Player of the game was freshmen speedster Jeremy Gallon. Gallon was taken off the punt return squad because of fumbling problems, but wowed the crowd with 2 electrifying kickoff returns for TD's in the first half.

Brandon Minor continued his stellar senior season with 100+ yard rushing performance finishing the day with 113 yards on 18 carries and a score.

The limited passing game was held to 89 yards total on 9 of 16 attempts.

Juice Williams finished the game with very inflated numbers. 14 of 26 for 378 yards 3 TD's and 2 INT's. Granted there was touchdown passes of 66, 68, and 99 yards. Most of which came against second and third team defenders. Also All-American Arrelious Benn missed 2 quarters with an injured pectoral muscle but did have 2 grabs for 105 yards and a TD. This kid is a monster and never goes down on initial contact.

Defensively for the Wolverines Ryan Van Bergen had a monster performance disrupting the Illinois offense all day. He finished the game with 8 tackles, 6 of which were behind the line of scrimmage, and a sack. Also, Michigan's top corner Donovan Warren returned an interception 26 yards for a score to put the game away.

The only bad news to come out of this game was the injury to starting strong safety Troy Woolfolk. Woolfolk will miss the rest of the season with a foot fracture that was suffered early in the first quarter. Woolfolk was the teams leading tackler with 42 on the season, 9 for a loss and 1 interception. For the time being back-up free safety Mike Williams will move over to strong safety.

Freshmen Tate Forcier is finding out how difficult the Big Ten season can be as he continues to struggle going 9 of 20 for 90 yards 2 TD's and 1 INT. Denard Robinson only had 1 completion on the day, but it was the most important. After breaking off a 44 yard run earlier in the drive, he converted a 4th and 10 late in the 4th quarter with a strike to Martavious Odoms.

Player of the game Brandon Minor once again showed why he is the Wolverines go-to guy. Following Purdue's overtime FG, Minor scored on the opening play of Michigan's drive to secure the win. Minor finished the day with 185 yards on 21 carries and 4 scores.

Purdue's player of the game Joey Elliot threw for 391 yards completing 30 of 45 pass attempts and 3 TD's. Three recievers caught 6 passes each with Keith Taylor leading the group. Taylor had 133 yards and a score.

All Big Ten defender Brandon Graham led the Wolverines with 10 tackles and 3 sacks.

The Wolverines travel to Camp Randall Stadium next week to take on the Badgers who have revenge on their mind following last years historic 19 point comeback in the Big House.

First things first. The CPU is absolutely garbage and just as cheap as any random online player.

Michigan started the game off on the right foot as they scored a defensive touchdown on the first play of the game. DT Mike Martin put great pressure on Wisconsin QB Dustin Sherer and OLB Jonas Mouton took advantage picking the fluttering pass for a 20 yard TD.

Michigan QB Tate Forcier was benched after the first series in favor of speedster Denard Robinson after going 1 for 3 for 20 yards and an interception. Robinson finished the game 11 of 17 for 171 yards and 2 interceptions, but it was his legs that was the story of the game.

Robinson was Michiagn's leading rusher going for 129 yards on 20 carries and 2 TD's. Player of the game Brandon Minor would have been the leading rusher if he didn't disappear again in the 4th quarter (which is really pissing me off) rushing for 96 yards on 16 carries and 3 TD's. Back-up running back Carlos Brown ran well rushing for 72 yards on 10 carries and a score.

Wisconsin running back John Clay ran for 131 yards on 28 carries and 2 TD's earning him player of the game honors.

Next week hated rival Ohio State comes to Ann Arbor riding a 5 game winning streak against the Wolverines. Former Michigan offensive lineman "Fat" Justin Boren will make his first appearance back at the Big House since transferring to OSU.

The winner of this game will likely have an opportunity to play in a BCS bowl.